


Out of Control

by KeJae



Category: Chuck (TV), White Collar
Genre: Gen, Violence (breif and not overly descriptive)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-17 22:39:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3546350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeJae/pseuds/KeJae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bryce finds himself having to betray Peter (in a comparable situation to what occurred with Chuck), and Peter finds out!  What will come of the situation?  Bryce and Peter each get their turn to share their side of the story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bryce: Turning life upside down…

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own White Collar or Chuck but I enjoy playing in the crossover sandbox to build my own castles ;)
> 
> The italics tell another part of the story but separate it from Bryce/Neal’s direct history.

*******

Everything was spiraling out of control.

It started with my betrayal of my best friend, again. Only this time, it was my other best friend. A friend who has taken so much because of me and yet, somehow, he keeps giving me another chance… until now.

You see from Peter’s perspective I was getting impatient to be freed from my anklet and suddenly I disappeared. He suspected that there may have been foul play, I left Mozzie behind after all, but he had no idea what was really occurring. Then, I returned out of the blue with no forth coming explanation, which was enough to give him reason to question me. The clincher that sealed our partnership’s fate was when he next discovered that I had betrayed him. My offense was the ultimate betrayal, he couldn’t forgive me this time.

To explain my betrayal I have to go back farther and explain what caused the situation.

*******

At Stanford, in my freshman year, I met my future antagonist.

There was a student on campus by the name of Danny Wilson. We were considered to be similar because we were both known to have interests in computers and art, could charm our way into any social circle, were athletes, and we each had our own party collection of sleight of hand tricks. But that was where the similarities ended. When it came down to character we were as different as night and day.

I got to know him because we had some of the same classes, a few mutual fiends (not Chuck, although he knew him as well), and we ended up meeting from time to time.

Over the years we were in school together, he never did sit quite right with me. There was an instinctual feeling that he would be the person to literally stick a knife into someone’s back should he be given the opportunity. Unluckily for me… I was the one who took that knife in the place of another.

To tell what brought that about we have to skip forward a few years.

*******

After I was recruited in the CIA my life took some unexpected twists. First, there was the betrayal of Chuck to save him from the CIA/Military Operation Omaha, then Orion showed up and enlisted my help to protect the Intersect, and eventually I found myself briefly having a nemesis.

My first big role was the legendary con artist Neal George Caffrey. He was fun to play and had a variety of purposes. First, he was intended as a means of getting into the criminal world undetected as a fellow criminal. He was a white collar criminal because the role wouldn’t be confused for my actual identity due to the difference in circles that I work in as Bryce. Second, he was a means of righting wrongs. To do that, he was able to find out about crimes that had been committed and find a means of reversing them via reporting them to the law, or by simply stealing stolen possessions back in order to ensure their future safe return to their rightful owners. Finally, he was a means of protection. Most of the criminal world didn’t see Caffrey conning criminals, like Wilkes, out of their money as a means of protecting his intended victims, they saw it as a young criminal making stupid decisions that would eventually cost him his life. Still, conning a criminal out of their means of gaining supplies to commit crimes counts as a means of protection in my book.

I had been being partnered with Sarah from time to time for a few years and there came a point where Director Graham wanted us to work more closely as a full time partnership. In order to pull me from my cover of Caffrey, my orders were to get arrested by Agent Burke.

Surprisingly, Peter made it easy.

He had discovered where Kate was located and put the word out on the streets with the hope that I would be love struck enough to simply walk into his trap. Despite our relationship being over, I walked in and talked to Kate. Before the police raided she agreed to a contract to visit me once a week for the duration of my sentence. For her there was payment, for me, my cover had an element of depth in my absence.

Sarah and I worked, dated, and then our relationship ended as I was put under cover to go after the traitorous organization of Fulcrum. Over the course of my sentence I appeared to betray everything, twice I was killed in action while protecting the Intersect, and then after my second death I was to remain dead to my past and those it included in it while moving on to tackle other enemies.

Then I was put back into the Caffrey role.

By this point Kate solely functioned as my asset and, despite our contract, she wanted a meeting to conclude our working relationship. As our meeting came to its conclusion, Kate signaled me that there was trouble and that an old case might be opening up again. She wouldn’t tell me anything else, so Beckman gave me permission to follow my plan to work as a consultant in the FBI and search to discover what Kate had meant about an old case opening up again.

It was quickly arranged at the DC level for my role to transition into the FBI office. On the local level the arrangement took a break out, arrest, and a meeting with Peter in order to convince him to handle red tape for the change.

Peter has always been the type of agent I could trust and work well with so it was no wonder that we defeated enemies and solved cases at an impressive rate. The work was enjoyable and we did a lot of good work, then things took a downhill turn after I was abducted.

*******

_Danny Wilson had also been recruited in college, but he was a part of the dark side, if you will. Where my job was to protect, his was to destroy._

_The organization he joined was called Leverage. An organization that was large, evil, and determined to cause trouble. In ways, it was like fighting another version of Fulcrum and the Ring with an unknown number of agents and plans that we wanted stopped._

_They put Danny into their operation in the New York City FBI office. Danny’s front was to be an FBI Tech Analyst who was “one of the good guys” on the surface while being a mole for Leverage behind the scenes._

_His job was to analyze the technology and information transferred via technological means for cases as his job dictated. He did his job well as far as the records were concerned, but unbeknownst to the office he misappropriated his access to classified information. The intelligence he copied was either passed to his bosses or sold on the street for a personal profit that Danny kept hidden in a secret cache._

_He was also tasked to set the New York City FBI office up for a fall. To do that, he needed to get familiar with the agents. He spread his tentacle through the office by charming his way into their hearts and gained a good understanding of who was the upstanding variety and who could be persuaded with monetary or nefarious means._

_Slowly he set up a house of cards constructed by actual bribery and blackmail as some walls while others were constructed of falsified documents and information. He put paid witnesses on record, set up doctored videos and photos, and in general did a really good job of arranging the entire office to fall._

*******

Secretly being CIA, it was not as difficult as some would expect to escape from my captor’s clutches and leave them crumbling from the inside out. A call to the agency brought in more personnel who finished the job and left me free to simply walk back into the office like nothing happened… except my anklet had been cut and I was missing for three weeks with no explanation.

This caused a whole new level of suspicion from the office which wasn’t helped by the next series of events.

Before the situation with my abduction could be cleared up and resolved, I intercepted a message being sent to Peter. I recognized it as the type to be sent either by covert government agents, or enemy operatives intending to create a blackmail situation.

The communication was to set up a meeting with an anonymous person late that night. Rather than endanger Peter, I chose to step into his place (just like I had done with Chuck and, unfortunately, with similar results).

Later, I met with a man that I never saw, but instead only heard. This way I couldn’t implicate him as my accomplice should I be caught in the act he wanted me to commit.

As Peter, my choice was to accept the task to hinder my team’s efforts, set them up for blackmail, and commit fraud in the process. If I refused that offer, they would be set up for blackmail anyway, Elizabeth would be destroyed professionally, Peter would go to prison indefinitely, his reputation would be annihilated, and he would never make it out of prison alive.

Given the choice, I chose to appear to accept the first choice. I was given my instructions as to what I was to accomplish and my contact disappeared into the darkness.

Instead of returning to my apartment and putting the anklet back on (I had removed it to keep my meeting secret), I chose to go to my base and set up the means of dealing with the situation. After notifying Beckman, we arranged a means of proceeding and I got the go ahead to complete my plans.

Once I was settled into my computer, I subtly hacked into the office computers and set up a series of fake documents hidden in the system to create the means of blackmail. Then I proceeded to change the information for the cases I was to hinder so that even the system provided the wrong details. Finally, I made it look like Peter had trace evidence of involvement with my activities hidden in the work.

With my work completed, it was time to return to my apartment as we had a case to work in the morning.

*******

I was excited to work this new case since I was to be playing a track star. The team figured that I was always so good at running that they might as well have me get clocked for my speed while completing a case at the same time.

Standing on the track, I stretched and relished in the feeling of the environment that surrounded me. I had been a track star in high school and earned a scholarship to Stanford. Running, working with a coach, and the whole atmosphere took me back to better days. (Better days than mine was going to be).

While I was going through my paces, Peter was sitting up in the stands with some random bystanders and people connected to other competitors. As he got into conversation with one of them, he unfortunately discovered by chance what I least wanted him to know… that I had betrayed him.

Peter had managed to strike up conversation with the only person who had happened to witness what had occurred at the meeting. He hadn’t seen my face, but he had heard my voice. Talking with the man Peter learned that an “Agent Peter Burke” had meant with another man and they had discussed setting up fraud and blackmailing for the agents of the local White Collar team.

The Archeologist in Peter couldn’t hear that and let it rest, so he continued to carefully interrogate the man. His prodding brought out the information that he didn’t want to hear. That a man who fit my description and voice met an unseen man to make the set up.

Absolutely furious, Peter was hardly able to wait until the case was done before he slapped me in cuffs and hauled me back to the office with the promise that as soon as this was fixed, I was going back to prison… for good.

_******_

_For the most part Danny had good luck setting up the office for its fall. However, his efforts remained incomplete as long as there were agents that he couldn’t corrupt and who had shining reputations too difficult for him to tarnish. Ironically, most of the agents he had trouble setting up were collected in the White Collar Division._

_Agents Hughes and Burke weren’t the type of agents to tolerate agents that they couldn’t trust so they took care of who they were willing to allow onto their team. Granted, Caffrey was an exception to that rule, but he was more of a means of getting a perspective on crime that a straight laced agent couldn’t provide (or so they thought)._

_After several failed attempts, Danny decided to let Leverage get involved and help him with the last troublesome group. They arranged for Danny to have the meeting with Peter as a means of setting him up for fraud, the documents I created were to make it look like the team covered for each other’s indiscretions, and the change of information in the database was to hinder the team’s closure rate that made them stand out to the superiors. The ultimate plan was for this to be discovered and the internal turmoil to tear the team apart before the house of cards would be discovered in a domino chain of events that would spread to other parts of the building and eventually destroy the entire New York City office’s reputation and creditability. No one wants to even think about contemplating how much trouble that would cause… except Leverage who planned for it all to happen of course._

_******_

Once I discovered their plans and researched into what was going on, our forces came head to head over an unlikely battle field, the FBI. Particularly, the FBI Office of New York City, starting with the White Collar Division.

Danny was the front man for Leverage, and I was his main opponent.


	2. Bryce: And finding the way back up.

*******

When we arrived at the office I was dismayed to discover Elizabeth there to go to dinner with Peter. She, like the rest of the office, looked on with confusion as Peter made me sit at my desk in cuffs and begin to tell what had happened. He was making it public, because he already knew what happened and it affected the whole team, so he felt they had a right to know.

Unable to fight his fury, I began to talk.

After I finished, the glares were penetrating to my soul. I had fed them a story and now I had to bare the weight of their hatred. Even Peter had tears of fury and betrayal in his eyes. He had obviously given up on me, for good this time.

Before they could calm down enough to react any further Danny walked into the room. Without looking around, he asked to talk to Peter.

Hearing Danny’s voice, I placed my unseen contact. “You… it was you who arranged for that communication to be sent to Peter!”

Going pale as a sheet Danny looked at me and spluttered, “Bryce? You took his place?” Then recovering his façade of composure, he realized that he may have just admitted to being the mastermind behind my betrayal. In an attempt to cover his tracks he decided to throw out his position in comparison to mine. (Like a “my horse is bigger than your horse” comparison of positions was really going to erase his slip). “I’m a Tech Analyst and you’re just a consulting criminal. What makes you think your word could hold against mine?”

To his dismay I told him the facts (or a version of them). “You’re FBI Danny, but you’re also a mole for Leverage. So who has a better reputation, the dishonest FBI or the honestly dishonest criminal?”

Desperate to avoid going down for his actions, Danny pulled a knife and lunged for Elizabeth, the unfortunate person closest to him.

Jumping for momentum and flipping over my desk, I quickly intervened. A swift chopping motion of one hand had his knife knocked across the floor while my other hand pushed El safely into Peter. Losing a knife didn’t matter to Danny as he simply pulled another knife out and attacked me.

As we danced around each other, pulling full combat and gymnastic skills, he sought to kill me with knives while I defended myself with my hands and handy office supplies. Finally, he made a move that gave him the upper hand. In response, I had the choice between going down and leaving the team vulnerable, or a spinning move that would leave my back open for attack. Refusing to involve the team in the danger, I chose to spin. I grabbed a notebook off of my desk as I began the circle.

To the horror of the office, he stabbed me in the back. Most of the blade was stopped by the notebook, but when he pulled the knife out, the tip was crimson.

With a jubilant exclamation he decided to deliver his confession. “I am the one who is setting up this entire office to crumble. All I have to do is pull a string and the whole staff will be discredited and lose everything.”

Unable to stand still any longer, a few agents moved forward to attempt to apprehend him.

Sensing the agent’s intent he, cut himself with the knife and declared, “It may take a few minutes, but you will never take me alive!”

Despite the waves of pain radiating from my back, I waive the rest of the office to stay back as I caught his fall. Settling him down on the floor I took off my jacket to support his head and sat beside him.

Looking smug, Danny informed me, “You’re going to die now you know. That blade was poisoned and there is no cure.”

I ignored that statement not wanting to admit that I am a government agent in front of the office and that my training included building up an immunity for the poison now coursing through my veins. Instead, I chose to ask Danny why he chose to join Leverage.

With a shrug he said, “Because they promised me what I wanted and I was willing to do whatever it took, no matter the cost, in order to get it. Just like you.”

I wish people didn’t always have such a bad opinion of me, but I can at least make an attempt at setting the record straight in this circumstance. “I am not willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want. There are some things in this life that are not worth giving up for anything.”

“Like friendship?”

“Yes, like friendship.”

“Friendship, like betraying Chuck?” He hit me where it hurts with a smug expression and a well-aimed sentence. I winced, which encouraged him to follow down the betrayal track.

“Chuck knows what I did, and why.”

He was looking at the ceiling, but suddenly he looked at me with fire in his eyes daring me to be self-righteous. “I wonder what you would do if you were ever betrayed.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You just stabbed me in the back… does that count?”

“Not really because you had no expectations.” He looked back to the ceiling smirking in victory.

Regretfully, I recounted what happened in the last Intersect room. “Well… I was once supposed to have a protection team. When we got to where we were going, one was joined by his buddies and they slaughtered the rest of us. I was shot through the back and technically bled to death locked in the next room to keep them from getting what they wanted. The others never even made it to cover.”

His head whipped around to look at me… “Did you finish what you were planning on doing?”

Grinning, I recounted the rest of the story. “Chuck literally dropped in while his protection took on the traitors outside. I don’t know exactly how that ended, because I died, but I know they got through and kept the traitors from getting their hands on it, because that is how they work. They always come through, they are my other team, and I trust them completely, just like the one behind me.”

By now Danny was completely puzzled by my actions. “Chuck is your other team and your best friend. Peter is your team and other best friend. You betrayed both, despite understanding betrayal. It seems that every time you get close to someone you betray them, why?”

I didn’t want to talk about the reason, so I used an avoidance technique. “Because I don’t have a choice. There is either betray them one way, or another. So, I choose the most acceptable form of betrayal.”

_Snort,_ he gave me an incredulous look. “Acceptable… I don’t think I want to know your definition of acceptable.”

Looking at the carpet beside his head I tried to explain what I meant. “It’s not my definition of acceptable that is the problem, but rather how much worse the alternative is that makes the decision for me.”

He tried to ask his question again. “What could be worse than betraying your best friends and having them hate you for the rest of their lives?”

I tried to ignore the questioning eyes boring into my back. “Knowing that they are hating me for the rest of their lives is better than the alternative.”

Danny is getting frustrated with my avoidance efforts so he glares at me and growls, “You still didn’t answer my question. What is the alternative that would drive you to that decision?”

I might as well answer because he won’t let go, and with the team thinking the same question, I can’t get away forever without answering. “Knowing that if I don’t betray them in the way that results in them hating me for the rest of their lives, I will betray them by doing nothing to prevent the alternative… An alternative where they are forced into a position where they will be taken from all that they hold dear, they will experience the feeling of having everything that makes them who they are being stripped away, they will watch helplessly as their life spirals out of control before demolishing into a heap of rubble, then finally when there is nothing left for them to lose, they lose their life. That is the alternative that makes me happily betray them so that they remain safely ensconced with their loved ones in a life where they have the chance to choose.”

Looking down and away I sighed into the silence. “I have experienced all of that myself in some way or another to save the lives of others. For the lives of others, I have given everything… why wouldn’t I do what it takes to keep my friends as safe as I can under the circumstances that life deals? If they hate me for loving them too much to sacrifice them, so be it.”

Dead silence met me from all corners as Danny reflected on my answer and the rest of the office had long since froze again and hadn’t regained motion yet.

Growing weak, Danny turned to face me and spoke up again. “You are more honorable than you get credit for.”

With a reproving look I replied “It is not the credit that is important, but the action.”

With a curious expression he threw out his next question. “Why are you a criminal instead of being an agent? You sound like an agent.”

Smirking I said, “Who says that I am not an agent undercover?”

His voice drifted, fading as it went. “That would make sense actually…”

As Danny exhaled for the last time, a bustle of noise began to fill the office.

*******

After Peter discovered my betrayal and the situation began to spiral out of control, I called in the cavalry with a signal on one side of my watch. Then, while I was talking to Danny, before our fight, I picked my cuffs and turned on my tracking signal on the other side of my watch (just in case things turned out really bad). Luckily, I had the situation in the room generally handled by the time help arrived so they were just in time to begin tackling the entire office problem.

As I was still seated on the floor next to a dead FBI employee, the DC teams that entered the room treated me as a potential suspect. Since the new teams were asking to speak with me, I attempted to identify myself. Unfortunately, my badge was in a hidden compartment of my desk and their distrusting nature had a few guns being pointed in my direction the second I said anything about my identification being in my desk. Rolling my eyes to myself I sat back and waited for them to realize that I was, in fact, the very Agent Bryce Larkin that they were looking for.

I was surprised when another person entered the room and simply stopped to stare at me for a few moments. Regaining his composure, Casey crossed the room ordering the agents to drop their weapons. He extended his hand and assisted me up with a grunt and said “Larkin, I see you’re not dead again.” Then, as he figured out what had happened, I got another grunt and a bark of humor “Looks like you went and got yourself stabbed in the back this time. And by an FBI agent to boot” (he never has been a fan of the FBI).

Realizing their mistake, the DC teams were now willing to allow me to retrieve my badge and identify myself. With that cleared up, I filled everyone in on the research I had done and the information that I had pulled from the Intersect to help me fill in the gaps. (I was finally made the Intersect and given a Governor with some extra fancy toys built in after I returned from my abduction). With the ease of experience, I began to get the teams moving on cleaning up the mess and the new teams quickly dispersed to complete their tasks.

Turning around I noticed that Elizabeth and the office remained standing, staring at me in amazement. None of them had seen the events of the day coming and were unprepared to deal with it when it occurred. I decided to give them the chance to adjust, so I nodded to them, and went to tend my minor injuries. (Casey probably thought that I was a moron and needed to stop being girly because I cared about my team, but I didn’t care about that. What mattered was my team and where we stood).

*******

Over the weeks that followed I worked with the team and the awkwardness slowly went away as they adjusted to the reality of who I am. As we worked, we ran into situations where they watched me fight in hand to hand combat, I used a gun, flashed my badge, and held in firm command even when situations started to slip in the direction of losing control. They watched as Casey functioned as my partner in the field and did his own thing in the office. We were a puzzling team who could work very well together in the field, yet we didn’t have the camaraderie that I shared with them.

After work, we managed to fit in time to talk. Slowly, we rebuilt trust and our friendship was recreated with the new dynamic of equals (we had been before as team mates, but now we were as agents). We ran into a lot of situations that slowed our progress down, but each set back was surpassed until life at the office was back to being enjoyably comfortable.

We had new games where they tried to figure out what I was actually doing while I was playing Caffrey and taking them on a wild goose chase. Things like “What were you doing when you allegedly stole (insert stolen item in question)?” would come up and I would simply smile at them and leave them to investigate it and see what they could uncover. After a while, even Casey had to grudgingly admit that they were a good team as they kept figuring out one case after another with very little help from me.

*******

Then we had a new problem.

I received new orders to go chase Leverage on an International scale with Casey as my partner and I had no idea what my life would entail in the future. Would I come back, see them again, or even simply survive tomorrow (with Casey’s penchant for shooting me in the past who knew)? There was barely time to arrange my goodbyes.  

June would keep the apartment for me which gave me a safe place to land and a place to call home.

The team promised to keep my desk open just in case I could return someday.

Mozzie was horrified to realize that his friend was a spook suite. After some thought though, he decided to classify me as a government sanctioned conman, and then he was willing to be a contact and keep his ear to the ground for me.

Peter and Elizabeth were the hardest to leave. With a grin I promised to keep in touch like I did in the old days. They were to watch their mail as cards and messages would be arriving sporadically. When they asked on means of keeping in touch with me, I told them that I would let them know because I had little knowledge on what was going to be happening.

With a final tear filled hug Elizabeth made me promise to let them know how I was.

Peter shook my hand and gave me his patented be careful speech. Then when I was about to leave, he pulled me into a hug. He told me that I was forgiven and he was proud to work with me, he just wished things didn’t always go the way they did.

Missing them already, but with a plan of keeping in touch as best as I could, I climbed into the waiting government vehicle and disappeared into my future. (Hopefully, I would get some of my past back some day as I suspected that Chuck might have discovered that I was alive during one ill-timed call to Casey).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading, I loved seeing your bookmark, kudos, review, favorite, and follows. There is more to look forward to and I hope you all enjoy it :D
> 
> Since it has been mentioned by a few people, I named the villains Leverage to go with Fulcrum while the Ring provides the ring leaders of the organizations. I do have a few multi level crossovers with Leverage the show in mind but, as a fan, I won't cast them as the bad guys when I do get around to writing them :D
> 
> For those who are new to my stories, this is a completed work and will be posted every Sunday. Also, I keep a running list of my writing activities on my profile. If any of you would like to pick what I post next please feel free to check the list out and ask for summaries on any story of interest :D


	3. Peter: Blindsided by lies…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the part two where Peter gets to share his perspective on events over the course of two chapters. The italics are some of Peter's thoughts as he reflects on what is going on.

*******

My day started out pretty normal, but if I was superstitious, I would have seen the direction it was going to take based on my lunch fortune cookie.

“The ultimate of betrayals will lead to new discoveries, deeper understanding, and a better friendship with your brother.”

Seriously, who would get a fortune like that and expect it to come true in just a few hours? Well, regardless of expectations, I got that fortune for lunch and it came true before dinner.

*******

I discovered what the betrayal was when Neal and I went to work a case involving a track team. While Neal was prepping for his run, I found myself sitting in the stands picking up conversation with a random man who was simply present to view the competition.

Thinking he had an interesting point of gossip, the man began to regale me with his tale about an “Agent Peter Burke” meeting a man in a shadowed corner last night. They discussed the means of setting up the local White Collar team for blackmailing, hacking the FBI database to change information in order hinder them solving a few particular cases, and worst of all it was set up to implicate me which could take the team down even harder than the rest of the plan would. What hurt the most was when the man compared the description of the man that he had seen and heard as being a perfect match to Neal.

With a heavy heart and a furious temper (carefully controlled), I revealed my identity to the man and informed him that I hadn’t been to that meeting, but that the man that he had described was my CI. He was surprised to discover that he had a viable case and was intrigued to come into the office to make the report official later this afternoon. (I suspected he felt this would make great gossip to talk about at boring track meets for a few seasons to come).

Once our work on the case was done for the day, I pulled Neal aside and slapped a pair of cuffs on his wrists before walking him to the car. At first he was completely surprised and looked like he was about to complain, but the growled phrase “I know about your meeting last night!” had him shutting up and complying with me putting him in the back seat of my car. I intentionally treated him like a criminal because I had always been fair with him and he repaid me with the ultimate betrayal that would destroy my career, my reputation, and my team. After we cleaned this mess up as best as possible, I was done with Neal… he would return to prison permanently. That was how it was all going to end.

******

When we got back to the office he did the perp walk in front of anyone we passed. A lot of questioning glances followed us, but no one dared to ask anything. Walking into our particular office I sat him down in his chair and told him to talk in front of the entire office. Elizabeth and the team gathered around to see what was going on and what Neal had done this time.

Neal knew that I wouldn’t let him slide on this and I was in no mood for any of his shenanigans, but I was still surprised at how quickly he simply began to talk. He told us how he had betrayed us all just like he would recount a scripted story that he didn’t want to tell us, but he didn’t seem particularly ashamed of his actions…until the end when he saw our faces.

I am not one to get into emotional displays, but I know that there were tears of fury and betrayal in my eyes because of my best friend…former best friend. Now he was only the con I had attempted to reform and no matter how hard I tried to get them to go away, the tears stayed there keeping my eyes shimmering with water and threatening to spill over. After everything we have gone through, he chose to end it like this?

Beside me Elizabeth had tears running down her face and her whispered “Neal… how could you?” was heart breaking. The office behind me didn’t seem to have anything to say… yet. It was the silence before the storm and the hurricane was going to break in just a moment.

The situation changed course when a man walked into the room with his nose buried in a file. He asked for me and simply stood there reading something as he waited for someone to direct him, or for me to step forward.

Neal’s had frozen in place when the man spoke and after he finished, Neal addressed him in shocked accusation. “You… it was you who arranged for that communication to be sent to Peter!” _Communication? I never received any particular communication recently… did Neal steal it?_

The man paled and said “Bryce? You took his place?” _Bryce? Took whose place… mine?_ Thenhe seemed to realize that he had slipped by acknowledging that he was an accomplice to several counts of fraud, so he tried to use his position as a means of avoiding being questioned as an accomplice of Neal’s. _Like that would help him at all!_ Putting on an emotional mask, he confidently sneered, “I’m a Tech Analyst and you’re just a consulting criminal. What makes you think your word could hold against mine?”

Neal shocked me by responding, “You’re FBI Danny, but you’re also a mole for Leverage. So who has a better reputation, the dishonest FBI or the honestly dishonest criminal?” _So this man was named Danny, Neal knew him from somewhere, he was a mole for a group called Leverage, and he was dirty. My mind was cataloging details as they came in order to understand what was happening right in front of me._

Danny got a wild look in his eyes, pulled a knife, and lunged for Elizabeth, who was unfortunately the nearest person to him.

As adrenaline pumped through my system, I watched the following events in slow motion.

Neal suddenly jumped and flipped over his desk, landed in from of the Danny’s lunge, karate chopped the knife to the floor with one hand, pushed El into me with the other, and proceeded to fight in a quick succession of actions.

The fight continued with Neal displaying an amazing prowess of combat and gymnastics while using a mixture of his bare hands and office supplies to defend himself.

Then my system clenched in horror as I saw the next part coming.

Danny attacked Neal in a means that forced him to either fall, or spin and put his back open for attack, he chose to put his back open to attack. I could only watch as he grabbed a notebook to cover his back and followed through with his spin. To my dismay, I watched as the knife struck the notebook mid spin and came away with a crimson tip.

My mind reeled and my heart reacted to what had just happened. Neal was just stabbed in the back five feet from me as I stood by doing nothing… nothing but watching! With a heavy heart I realized that Neal may have betrayed me (and obviously lied a lot… unable to fight… HA!), but I failed him by standing by and allowing him to take a literal knife through the back. On top of that, the knife was from an FBI employee, in a room full of armed FBI agents… and no one helped! It was my turn to feel shame.

With a maniacal expression Danny gloated, “I am the one who is setting up this entire office to crumble. All I have to do is pull a string and the whole staff will be discredited and lose everything.”

Unable to stand still any longer, a few agents moved forward to attempt to apprehend him.

Sensing the agent’s intent, he cut himself with the knife and declared “It may take a few minutes, but you will never take me alive!”

Neal was obviously in pain, but he waved the agents off and caught Danny’s fall. After settling the man down on the floor, Neal sat beside him and took his jacket off to use for supporting the man’s head.

The next thing Danny had to say were the worst words that I had ever heard. (Hearing that Neal was going to die was worse than hearing that he had betrayed me). “You’re going to die now you know. That blade was poisoned and there is no cure.”

With no response to that statement, Neal decided to ask Danny why he chose join Leverage.

Shrugging, Danny said, “Because they promised me what I wanted and I was willing to do whatever it took, no matter the cost, in order to get it. Just like you.” _‘What I wanted,’ ‘willing to do whatever it took,’ and ‘Just like you.’ were the key phrases that resounded in my mind. What did Neal want that he would be willing to betray me in such a fashion? A small voice in the back of my mind told me that I was missing something, ‘Because when it came down too it you could always count on Neal.’ I tried to shut out the part of my mind that tried to defend him, but it refused to let me deny its historical validity._

Curious, I listened to how Neal would answer that remark. “I am not willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want. There are some things in this life that are not worth giving up for anything.” _Then what was that, because friendship didn’t look like it made the list of more important things?_

“Like friendship?” _I can’t believe it, but thank you Danny! Yes Neal, where does friendship rank with you?_

“Yes, like friendship.” _I mentally snort, because really Neal? You just betrayed our friendship… and for what?_

“Friendship, like betraying Chuck?” Neal winced. _So, he had done this before… and apparently it was a painful recollection._

“Chuck knows what I did, and why.” _I know what, but do I ever get to know why Neal? I couldn’t help but wonder._

After staring at the ceiling for a while Danny turned a daring expression on Neal, “I wonder what you would do if you were ever betrayed.”

Raising an eyebrow, Neal pointedly remarked “You just stabbed me in the back… does that count?”

Returning his attention to the ceiling and smirking, Danny off handedly remarked, “Not really because you had no expectations.”

With a voice full of regret Neal began to recount a story of betrayal. “Well… I was once supposed to have a protection team. When we got to where we were going, one was joined by his buddies and they slaughtered the rest of us. I was shot through the back and technically bled to death locked in the next room to keep them from getting what they wanted. The others never even made it to cover.” _By the sounds of it, he seemed to have been some sort of guardian for something important with a protection team and everything (right down to the heroic death). But, why would he be, when he was just a criminal? The story almost painted him as being an agent, which left me feeling like he was probably making it up._

Buying the story, Danny whipped around. “Did you finish what you were planning on doing?”

This time Neal grinned. “Chuck literally dropped in while his protection took on the traitors outside. I don’t know exactly how that ended, because I died, but I know they got through and kept the traitors from getting their hands on it, because that is how they work. They always come through, they are my other team, and I trust them completely, just like the one behind me.” _This Chuck keeps coming up… I’m going to have to look into who he is and how he connects to these two. ‘Trust them completely’ I don’t believe that any more Neal. I did this morning, but not after what I have learned._

Sharing our puzzled expression, Danny asked the question we all really wanted too. “Chuck is your other team and your best friend. Peter is your team and other best friend. You betrayed both, despite understanding betrayal. It seems that every time you get close to someone you betray them, why?”

Pulling a classic avoidance technique, Neal answers without answering. “Because I don’t have a choice. There is either betray them one way, or another. So, I choose the most acceptable form of betrayal.”

Everyone is incredulous. (Acceptable! This is acceptable?) Danny once again says what the rest of us can’t.   “Acceptable… I don’t think I want to know your definition of acceptable.”

Looking like the weight of the world is on his shoulders, Neal simply looks at the carpet and tries to explain. “It’s not my definition of acceptable that is the problem, but rather how much worse the alternative is that makes the decision for me.” _Again, I instinctually know that something really bad is coming… the ‘how much worse’ is enough of a clue but I feel that things are worse than even those daunting words cover._

“What could be worse than betraying your best friends and having them hate you for the rest of their lives?” _A part of me doesn’t want to know, but to understand… I have too._

By this point everyone was staring at Neal, waiting for him to give up and tell us. “Knowing that they are hating me for the rest of their lives is better than the alternative.” _As usual, Neal is using his avoidance techniques and drawing the situation out to avoid the inevitable._

Growling in frustration Danny tried asking the question again. “You still didn’t answer my question. What is the alternative that would drive you to that decision?”

_I have decided that if Neal is avoiding the answer with this much effort, it is going to be really, really bad when he does finally open up and tell us. The longer it takes for him to tell us, the more I am at war about whether or not I really want to know what would have happened if he had chosen option B._ While my internal battle rages on, I can see that Neal is giving in and we are about to get the answer whether we like it or not. “Knowing that if I don’t betray them in the way that results in them hating me for the rest of their lives, I will betray them by doing nothing to prevent the alternative… An alternative where they are forced into a position where they will be taken from all that they hold dear, they will experience the feeling of having everything that makes them who they are being stripped away, they will watch helplessly as their life spirals out of control before demolishing into a heap of rubble, then finally when there is nothing left for them to lose, they lose their life. That is the alternative that makes me happily betray them so that they remain safely ensconced with their loved ones in a life where they have the chance to choose.”

Before I had time to process that heart rending speech, it got worse. “I have experienced all of that myself in some way or another to save the lives of others. For the lives of others, I have given everything… why wouldn’t I do what it takes to keep my friends as safe as I can under the circumstances that life deals? If they hate me for loving them too much to sacrifice them, so be it.”

_Wow, I have no idea how to handle that speech. It did turn out to be really, really bad after all. Yet, it puts things into perspective. If Neal’s only choices were to take my place and make it look like the department was bad or, he would have stood back while someone else did the same thing anyway with a whole lot more as well… no wonder Neal chose to handle the situation personally. He could limit the amount of trouble caused and perhaps put some kind of fail-safe in an attempt to sabotage the saboteurs._ _The more I thought about it, the more I thought that was the likely scenario, Neal took the blame to keep the situation from getting as bad as it would have been otherwise! That is still not good because Neal will still have to go to jail, only now I am back to being upset at the idea. Why does Neal have to complicate my life?!_ Then the second part of what he said caught up to me. _He went through all of that before? Things really aren’t adding up because I know that Neal Caffrey never went through something like that… but Danny calls him Bryce… what is going on?_

I almost missed the next thing Danny said. “You are more honorable than you get credit for.” _If all that Neal has been saying is true…that is a fact!_

“It is not the credit that is important, but the action.” _I am proud of Neal’s response. He is right, even if he is the hero he sounds like, it is the fact that he is heroic that matters and not whether or not he gets the credit._

“Why are you a criminal instead of being an agent? You sound like an agent.” _I thought that Danny meant that Neal had been working with us long enough for our behavior to rub off on him, but his answer had me wondering what his answer meant._

“Who says that I am not an agent undercover?” _Neal was smirking. Does that mean that he was saying that with humor, or was he telling the truth with humor to try and hide the truth? If he was telling that with humor then there are still a lot of holes in his story, but if he was telling the truth… then his story had more validity and I really knew nothing of what was going on._

With his last breath Danny mused on Neal’s answer. “That would make sense actually…”

*******

There is a flurry of noise as new teams flood into the room and begin to look around, taking in the scene. Neal is sitting on the floor next to a dead FBI employee, the team is standing in shock unable to decide what to make of the situation, and Elizabeth is as frozen as the rest of us only she and I are standing closely together for each other’s support.

The lead agents were asking for an “Agent Bryce Larkin” as he was the one who was coordinating the situation with DC. From his position on the floor, Neal raised his hand and tried to get the attention of the agents by asking if he could get his identification from his desk. _Danny called him Bryce, parts of his story did sound like he was an agent, and he did say ‘Who says that I am not an agent undercover?’ Could Neal actually be this Agent Bryce Larkin, and if he was… did he really betray us or was it a set up that he couldn’t tell us about?_

Every agent in his vicinity pulled their weapons and aimed at him. They denied his request stating that he was a suspect in the agent’s murder. Neal settled back with a subtle roll of his eyes and waited for, what was apparently a DC cleanup crew, to find who they were looking for.

I watched as Neal got a surprised expression on his face when the next agent entered the room. The agent stopped by the door, as if he was surprised as well. Then he walked a crossed the room ordering the agents to lower their weapons, and when he stopped in front of Neal… he extended a hand and helped him to stand. _Neal looked like he was in agony and had been twitching and occasionally shuddering ever since he took the knife through the back. The poison didn’t seem to be killing him, but it did seem to be putting him through a considerable amount of pain… and he was taking it in stoic silence. This surprised me as he would usually be complaining to get attention. Suddenly, he takes more pain than I have ever seen him take and he doesn’t show anything aside from the involuntary twitches and shudders._

Then the agent gave positive confirmation to my earlier question. “Larkin, I see you’re not dead again.” _So Neal really is an undercover agent, hero, and he has been dead before. I am horrified to think that by the ‘again’ this agents means that Neal has been killed more than once!_ The team glared at the agent for his next comment, not only for the comments sake, but for the demeaning tone he said it in. “Looks like you went and got yourself stabbed in the back this time. And by an FBI agent to boot.”

As the agent helped Neal walk over to his desk they talked a little bit.

“Last I heard you were protecting Chuck? “ _Neal seemed to be questioning the agent somehow._

“Last I saw you, you were dead after being shot in the back almost four years ago. You missed a lot Larkin.” _This agent appears to have been the ‘protection’ that Neal mentioned earlier. He is a part of Neal’s ‘other team,’ and he doesn’t seem to be too happy with Neal at the moment. Why… perhaps because it sounds like Neal never told him that he was alive? (If he ever did that to me… I would hunt him down and chain him to his desk… I don’t care if he is an undercover agent!!)_

Arriving at his desk Neal reached underneath and out of sight. There was a faint click and the noise of him retrieving something. When he pulled his hand back up he was holding the black wallet used for carrying a badge. I

t seemed surreal as for the next few moments Neal stood with his badge on his belt and barking out information, followed by commands, like he was experienced at being in command.

After the agents dispersed to complete their tasks, Neal turned to us and looked us over for a moment. Deciding against saying anything he simply nodded before the other agent assisted him out of the room.

I wanted to say something to him but I found myself unable to speak, and simply frozen in place with my mind screaming the question “Are you coming back?” but being unable to utter a syllable.

*******

It was two days before I saw Neal again. Two days of worry, confusion, questions, and anger.

I was worried because the last time that I had seen Neal, he had been stabbed in the back with a poisoned blade. We had not heard anything of his condition and I was concerned with his health.

The confusion was over everything in general, and that generated questions. It turns out that he is an agent undercover, so why did he play a con artist? Why did he betray me? Was any of our friendship real?

It all cumulated into anger!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying this story and I appreciate every review and kudos that you leave :D
> 
> Reminder, next week is the final chapter for this story so please let me know if anyone has a request for which story I should post next.


	4. Peter: And rescued by truth.

*******

When Neal did walk into the office, he simply looked around before settling into his desk and beginning to complete the paperwork that had piled up during his absence.

That was it for days. Just piles of paperwork and files after a simple glance around the office. He never said a word to anyone, except the agents that he was giving orders too.

This left us even more in the dark as to what to expect.

It only took a few days for Diana to be fed up with the situation and confront him. “Why aren’t you talking to any of us?”

He surprised us all with his answer. “Because I have been waiting for you to decide how you wanted to proceed. After all, you haven’t lied about who you are, what you do for a living, or why you do what you do. So, I figured that the first move, of whether or not you even wanted to talk to me, was in your ball park. Have you decided?”

Non-plussed, Diana simply stared at him for a moment.

After a few moments to absorb his reply, he was bombarded with questions as agents came from all corners of the office. When the crowd realized that I was standing at the back, the group fell silent and opened a path for me to step forward.

“Peter” was all that Neal had to say. It was an acknowledgement to my presence and an opening for me to say whatever I felt the need to express.

“How much of it was real?” That was the first question that I needed to express and have answered. How much of our friendship, struggles, and his betrayal was real. I didn’t need to verbalize how much that simple question encompassed, it was the obvious question that I would ask.

“Our friendship is real. In college I had a roommate, his name is Chuck. For a long time he was my only friend, the only person who knew me as “Bryce from Connecticut” as well as “Agent Larkin of the CIA,” and the only person I knew I could rely on to do “the right thing” no matter the cost. Then I meant you, and by that I mean I got to work with you and get to know you on a personal basis. You put it as “Doing the right thing and letting the pieces fall where they will,” but that is just another way of doing the right thing no matter what happens as a result. I respect that in a person more than I can express to you. On top of that, you’re honest, again just like Chuck. When it comes to a situation where you need to lie, both of you can for the cover, but both of you have trouble even trying to get a lie past the people that you care about. I know that if I were to hand you the lives of thousands of agents, you would protect them no matter the cost to you because thousands of lives is worth the trouble to keep them alive. That is why I sent Chuck something years ago, and that is why if I had something, where you were the best person, I would send you something that I would die for. I trust you.”

Taking a breath, he continued to answer my question with his eyes staring straight into mine as his effort to convey just how much he meant what he was saying.

“Our partnership is real. I rely on you to have my back and I know, that even though you didn’t know that I am a combat trained and seasoned agent, you would go to the wall to keep me safe in the field. For someone who has been betrayed more than once, and shot in the back resulting in temporarily fatal injuries, to trust without question is something that is not given easily.”

As he continued, I felt the stress begin to release, maybe not everything was real, but the parts that count were.

“The family bond is real. I am dead to my family, and for their safety I can never acknowledge that I am alive or who I became. Family doesn’t tend to work out for most agents because we can’t tell those we care about who we are, we have to lie about what we do, and there is no guarantee that we will even be in the same place until the sun comes up. My life is not my own and I am not able to connect in an open honest way with people. Still, I have seen what could be and I have heard further information in the case of my friend Chuck. He is the lucky one. Life worked out for him in a way that he married my old partner and ex-girlfriend, his family found out about his work so that he doesn’t have to lie to them, and his best friend ended up joining his team so that he works with his friends in civilian life and in the field. The man has everything that a person could ask for. My family is now my friends. If Chuck were to be considered my little brother that I have watched out for since we met in the commons of the college campus, then you are the big brother who has tried to keep me in-line. Even though I am not as out of line as you think.”

He finished this with a smirk and I found myself amused at the idea of trying to make an agent obey the law, when unbeknownst to me, he was upholding the law all along, just by a different set of standards. Now I might not approve of some of his methods, but I also didn’t know the whole story.

“Were our struggles real? Yes, and no. Caffrey is a role that has been played so long, and into so much detail that there are literal friends and foes who know him as a living person. Just like you did until a few days ago. His enemies were real and the struggles that they brought on were real. Mozzie is a real con artist and when he finds out about me being a spook suit, I don’t know what he will think. I assume that with the cat out of the bag, it is just a matter of time until I get to find out. His criminal activity is real. Mine… well that is another story. I work for the CIA officially, but I am a part of a task force that my assignments could come from the NSA, in fact they usually do. Since I have been working in the FBI office, there are times when the FBI is involved in what I do as well. With three agencies pulling the strings, they sometimes blur the lines of jurisdiction, which makes my action a crime by one agency’s standards, but not by another’s.”

That explained why he could pull off some of the stunts he has done, while still being an agent.

“And for the big, recent event of my betrayal. Was that real? Again, it is a yes and no answer. Yes, I did intercept communication that was meant for you. Yes, I did impersonate you at the meeting with Danny. No, I did not simply go to a computer and do what he said while putting some kind of fail safe. Instead, I went to the base that I work out of for official activities of my agency. I reported to the directors of several agencies via a complicated video call. We brainstormed how to handle the situation and I followed through with the plans. Does that make it all okay, no, and how you choose to handle it is up to you. If you choose for our friendship to be over, then I will leave you a card with a means of contact just in case you change your mind someday. There isn’t a way to simply look me up in a phone book to contact me. Once I am sent away, I am unreachable, unless I arrange for a way to keep in contact, and even that is likely to be sporadic. If you choose for our friendship to continue, then the same point applies, and I will keep open a means of communication no matter where I am sent. You don’t have to choose now and I am not going to push you. For now I have to be a part of your life whether you like it or not, but if I am not welcome, I get the feeling that things will be changing soon anyway.”

With that he simply looked at me waiting for me to respond, even if it was simply to walk away in disgust.

I stood for a few moments contemplating before I answered. “El has been wondering how you’re doing. What about six o’clock?”

It was a typical dinner invitation, so I didn’t need to elaborate, but by the subtle change of his demeanor you would think that I had offered him a fancy invitation to the party of the century.

“There shouldn’t be a problem. Do you mind if I bring Casey? I get the feeling that he is curious why I treat you so much like Chuck, only different.” He had an uncertain expression on his face as he made his request.

Grinning I replied. “Just know that we will be asking him about your past ,as he has obviously been a participant in things that we never knew about.”

A mixed look of amusement and panic crossed his face which made me give him a questioning look.

“Casey… he and I have been rivals in the field so there are things that he is not my biggest fan. On the other front, he is not afraid to tell you like it is. Also, there are things that neither he, nor I, can tell you about due to classified information. And you should probably know that… well… he is the person who shot me to death the first time. But I was undercover as a traitor and stealing something that I wasn’t even supposed to know existed as far as official information went. He didn’t know that Orion had contacted me when I was a rookie to help him guard the thing, and he didn’t know that Director Graham had signed off on my cover personally so no one else knew about it.” He had started out slowly, but when he went into the part about Casey having killed him he picked up the pace trying to explain his co-worker before we could get too bad of an opinion of him.

I froze for a moment. Neal wanted me to invite him, and the man who had killed him, over to my house for dinner to talk about Neal’s past and who he really is?!? “Are you kidding me? You work with the man who killed you?”

Neal’s response was sheepish. “Well, it isn’t the first time we’ve worked together. After I was accidently rescued, I escaped the medical facility to keep my cover. Enemy agents were everywhere, including our most secure facilities. My contact for my cover was in the building and I couldn’t stay without blowing the whole operation. I messed with Chuck again, yes there is a reason he hated me for years, but as far as I last knew he had forgiven me and was sad to see that I was dying on him… again. Anyway, when Casey found me trying to explain myself he shot me again. Luckily, I was wearing a vest, as it is the expected reaction with him. Then, Chuck was able to confirm my story. Declared innocent of treason, Casey hasn’t tried to shoot me since and we have worked together a few times. I wouldn’t put it past him to tranq me if I ticked him off, but he wouldn’t actually kill me again without reason. If he did, he would have to face the General, and she may be tiny but she carries quite the bite when she wants too.”

Concerned, I could hold back. “Accidentally rescued and dying again? I know that I can’t know everything but that is a bit much to leave unexplained!”

“After Casey shot me, I was declared dead, loaded into an ambulance, and shipped to the morgue. The ambulance was staffed by the enemy agents who revived me. I told them that I had what they wanted and I was the only source for the information. A cover story was created by the agency, my family arranged a funeral, and I was held prisoner in a sedated state for several months with no one the wiser. That is, until they accidentally intercepted me when a time sensitive transport was assumed to be a bomb, it was me in a medical box. As for the second death, that was later when I was betrayed and shot in the back.” He had his stoic mask back up as he generally explained the details. They must have been unpleasant memories, so I decided not to pry too closely and let him leave them as his past.

*******

Over the weeks that followed we had several more of these conversations and other agents in the office also took their turns settling their concerns with him in their own ways. Slowly, we got back to being friends again, but we had to rebuild how we interacted. Neal was now Bryce.

We still tended to call him Neal because it was what we were used too and he told us to keep going with it because it helped to hold his cover outside of the FBI.

The differences came out quickly though.

Instead of looking at technology like it was a means to an end, but not in his skills portfolio, Neal would chat about how to better deal with our computers. He even admitted to being a computer engineer with a degree from Stanford. (We weren’t to go looking into his college days because we would find Chuck, but he did entrust with a piece of real information).

Suddenly, we no longer had to keep tabs on Neal. Even after I had thought I was used to him being off of the anklet, I would still find my fingers trying to go to the familiar page to check and make sure he was behaving. Then I would remember that he was an agent, free to go wherever, and not a criminal that I had to be concerned about committing a crime.

In the office, he was no longer just a consultant who handled certain aspects of the cases, but was restricted from certain activities due to his criminal background. With the office being purged form the affects Danny had implemented, Neal was the agent in charge for a lot of it. He had agents of all levels coming to him for orders, he had calls back and forth with DC Directors of agencies, and he had more paperwork than I handled in a month to attend too.

Then when we went into the field things changed there as well. Neal now had a gun concealed, a badge, and he was an active agent working as an equal with the rest of the team. When one take down went sideways, Neal pulled his skills into effect again. We watched as he dodged several bullets, took down two guys with quick combat movements, and took down the shooter with a single shot.

Another change we noticed was one day when Neal was helping us on a case. He looked at a file and got a funny expression on his face. His eyes flickered and looked empty, like he was no longer looking at the file, but the information in his head. I would almost compare it to a human computer that had information put into it and it had that spinning circle as it processed the information. Agent Casey got concerned and asked him if he “had it.” Neal answered to the affirmative and told him not to worry. Orion had given it to him, warned him of what had happened with Chuck, and gave him a Governor. Casey didn’t look like he was completely satisfied with the answer and got a contemplative expression. We continued to work the case, but the rest of the office was curious what had been going on. (There was no point in asking for answers, we knew by the undefined communication that this was something that they were not going to share).

*******

In an effort to get to know Bryce we began to play a new variation of our old game.

We used to try and get information out of him about his past crimes and compare it to the cases we had been trying to solve that he was suspected in. Now, we tried to figure out how he accomplished the “crimes” and what he was actually doing when he did them.

He played the game by giving us little help, but enough that if we were a good team, we could discover a lot of information without getting into clearance issues. I am proud to say we proved that we are a good team, even Casey grudgingly complimented us in a backhanded way.

One of the questions that carried a new perspective with it was when Jones asked, “Who taught you how to take your opponent on such a wild goose chase?”

“Orion,” was the simple answer that had everyone in range turning to look.

Diana exclaimed, “He is real!”

Neal was amused by our surprise. “Yes he is. I have even mentioned his involvement a few times.”

Remembering his brief mention of him, I was curious. “You said that Orion had contacted you to guard something when you were a rookie. It sounds like he was a mentor to you and you helped him to protect some of the technology that he is rumored to have created. He is said to be one of the biggest legends in CIA engineering history and his work has helped to save thousands of lives. What I am curious about is why he contacted you as a rookie to undertake such a big task?”

“I took on the government and the military to keep them from force recruiting his son for a suicide operation. For Orion, this was the ultimate test of trust so he surfaced, told me his relationship to my friend, and he requested my help to protect his third most important creation.” Neal was matter of fact as he explained this information to us and he carefully avoided giving to much away when it came to certain details.

Now I understood what Casey had said about Neal.

“He is dangerous, conscious of his duties, intelligent, quick, and a good fighter. He wasn’t given his responsibilities for nothing. In fact, he is the third best agent I have ever worked with… and don’t you dare tell him I said that.” Casey was gruff when he informed me of this, but I get the feeling that gruff is the way he works.

******

Things were finally to a new normal, then we had a new problem.

While Neal was setting at his desk, his phone rang. He immediately left the office to take the call and when he returned he looked like he was squaring his shoulders in an attempt to prepare to share bad news.

“My orders have come. I am to leave tomorrow to begin my work on taking down the rest of Leverage.” As he finished this information Casey walked into the room.

“Take care of settling your life here, I’ll take care of the arrangements for the operation.” Casey went to pick up the things that he had brought and Neal remained awkwardly standing as he waited for us to react.

I stepped forward. “Casey is going to be your partner?”

“Yes, don’t worry. With him along I am in more danger of being tranqed by him than of the enemy getting the better of us.” He tried to infuse humor knowing that this was the beginning of good bye.

Giving him a look, “Just take care of yourself Bryce.” He was startled at my reference, but it felt right to acknowledge him by name.

*******

They have been gone a few weeks and I have been reflecting on what happened before Neal and Casey left.

The team and I had cornered Casey before he had a chance to leave. “Please take care of him for us.”

He grunted in reply, “Semper Fi.” Which was good enough for me.

Then when I said good bye to Bryce myself, I shook his hand and gave him my patented be careful speech. When he turned to walk away, I pulled him back into a hug and told him what I hadn’t been able to say. That I had forgiven him, that I was proud to work with him, and that I hoped we would be able to work together again someday “partner.”

*******

After a few weeks of being distracted, I finally received the first of many post cards. Sitting in my office I read through the short message and turned to look out the window to reflect in my disappointment. I was hoping that Neal would have more to say. Then it hit me. He said he would keep in touch just like in the old days… there was probably something hidden in the basic message. Rereading the card, and looking closer, I found a hidden chat site link. Following the link, I discovered a more detailed message and I was reassured that he was okay and making progress.

For the first time in a few weeks I was able to relax and respond with the knowledge that he would be getting back to me as soon as he could.

******

Things are still out of control, but now it is okay. I am an agent of the FBI and Neal is an agent of the CIA. We have no control of where our friendship will go, but we know that it is worth fighting for. Even though we can’t work together as we would like too, we both know that we are agents working to uphold our part of the justice system, to do our best with what we have.

After a year of sporadic communication, I finally got the message that I had been hoping for. Neal is coming home, and he is bringing his other team for a visit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading my stories, for every time you share that you enjoy them (kudos, reviews, comments, bookmarks, ect), and to those who like me as an author :D
> 
> On a side note, for those interested in helping to choose the next story I have updated my profile page so it now includes the summaries, fandoms, and how many chapters for each story. Due to up coming travel plans the choices for next week have been shortened to three ("Tales of Twins," "Neal What," and "The Intersect versus The Robot.") I will be posting early on Saturday, leaving for almost two weeks, and then posting on Sunday when I get back (no particular story in mind at this point so feel free to cast your votes).
> 
> For an additional side note, it has been mentioned that it was confusing whether Danny knew Neal/Bryce as CIA or just from college. The answer is that he only knew him from college while having no suspicion of his CIA involvement.
> 
> I hope you will all come back next week for another story :D

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you are enjoying this little story as much I enjoyed writing it :D


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